Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 8
Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 8 is a Nintendo owned video game developer under the Nintendo Entertainment Planning and Development structure based in Tokyo. Originally, the group was created from the team behind Super Mario Sunshine with the general manager being Takao Shimizu to develop new titles. Their first title was Donkey Kong Jungle Beat for the GameCube. Now, the team is responsible for all the 3D Mario games. The team is currently under the jurisdiction of Yoshiaki Koizumi with the group manager being Koichi Hayashida. Due to being based in Tokyo away from the rest of Nintendo, the team has a dedicated sound group called Nintendo EPD Tokyo Sound Group. History After development of Super Mario Sunshine for the GameCube was completed, Nintendo opened up a new EAD studio in Tokyo, whereas the rest of the team was in Kyoto. The decision to create a new company there was so that they would be able to bring in fresh new talent from the capital of Japan who wouldn't be willing to travel hundreds of miles away to Kyoto. Their first project was to work on a new Donkey Kong game, and created the unique GameCube title Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, which made use of the DK Bongos created initially for Donkey Konga. Unlike Konga, which was a rhythm game, Jungle Beat was a platformer. It received critical acclaim though, perhaps due to the time it was released, didn't manage to break a million sold. After Jungle Beat was completed, Yoshiaki Koizumi, the director of that game and Sunshine, and his team decided it was probably time to work on a smaller game, though Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario, saw potential in the new development studio and suggested that they think big. One of the people working there suggested they create the new 3D Mario game, and Miyamoto approved of the idea. Some on the team were uncertain if they would be able to create a game of just magnitude, and when it was mentioned that the game would feature spherical worlds on which Mario would traverse, the team got more worried, so Koizumi and a small team created a prototype for three months which reassured everyone that it could be done. Two and a half years later and the game was highly lauded by critics, receiving many game of the year awards and becoming the best rated game of the year. Following Galaxy, a smaller team at EAD Tokyo created an application for DSiWare called Flipnote Studio. Not only did it become the highest rated product available on DSiWare, but it became the most downloaded, partly thanks to being completely free. During 2008 EAD Tokyo worked on remaking Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat for the Wii under the New Play Control! label. At E3 2009, Nintendo announced a sequel to Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii, appropriately titled Super Mario Galaxy 2. It was the first direct sequel to a 3D Mario game and was developed by EAD Tokyo. The success of the Galaxy games and 3D World led to the groups expansion with a new team making NES Remix and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker while development started on the next 3D Mario game. Around this time, Nintendo decided to merge the groups back together in the restructure for Nintendo EPD with Takao Shimizu helping the hardware team with the NES Classic Edition. Koichi Hayashida maintained his Group Manager role. List of games Group 1 Includes initial work as EAD Tokyo and when separated. *''Donkey Kong Jungle Beat'' - GameCube *''Super Mario Galaxy'' - Wii *''Nintendo DS Guide: Ikspiari'' - Nintendo DS *''Nintendo DS Guide: Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art'' - Nintendo DS *''Nintendo DS Guide: Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan'' - Nintendo DS *''Nintendo DS Guide: Make it Yourself'' - DSiWare *''The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D'' - Nintendo 3DS (with Grezzo) *''The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures'' - DSiWare (with Grezzo) *''Photos with Mario'' - Nintendo 3DS *''Wii U Panorama View'' - Wii U *''Nintendo 3DS Guide: Louvre'' - Nintendo 3DS (with Indieszero) *''The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D'' - Nintendo 3DS (with Grezzo) Group 2 *''Flipnote Studio'' - DSiWare *''Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat NPC'' - Wii *''Super Mario Galaxy 2'' - Wii *''Super Mario 3D Land '' - Nintendo 3DS *''Flipnote Studio 3D'' - Nintendo 3DS *''Super Mario 3D World'' - Wii U *''NES Remix'' (with Indieszero) - Wii U *''NES Remix 2'' (with Indieszero)- Wii U *''Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker'' - Wii U *''Ultimate NES Remix'' (with Indieszero) - Nintendo 3DS As Nintendo EPD Group 8 *''Super Mario Odyssey'' - Nintendo Switch *''Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker'' (with NST) - Nintendo 3DS/Nintendo Switch Category:First party developers Category:Nintendo divisions